Man jailed for life for Rossiter murder

A Tipperary man has been sentenced to life for the murder of Shane Rossiter.

Mr Rossiter died as a result of gunshot wounds on October 17, 2012, following a party in Church Lane, Golden, Co Tipperary.

Maurice Power, aged 31, of Dranganbeg, Kilmoyler, Cahir, was found guilty yesterday of murdering the 30-year-old. He had denied murdering Mr Rossiter.

The Central Criminal Court heard the accused had grown up with Mr Rossiter and that they had been good friends. The accused told gardaí “there was bad blood between he [Mr Rossiter] and myself”. He said there was “a lot of serious history” between them and “it involved a stabbing” seven years prior to the death of Mr Rossiter. He told gardaí he was in fear for his family and for himself.

The jury were told that the deceased had moved home from Australia six weeks before he died.

The four-week trial heard that there was an extensive period of detention in which the accused made a full confession. Following his arrest on December 11, 2012, he told gardaí that he had “let a shot at Shane Rossiter” at 6.45am on the morning of October 17.

Marie Cassidy, the State pathologist, told the court she carried out an autopsy on Mr Rossiter at Waterford Regional Hospital. She said the cause of death was shotgun wounds to the chest and abdomen, blood loss and injuries to the right lung, heart, liver, spleen, bowel, aorta, and inferior vena cava.

The court heard that the burnt remains of the accused man’s car were found near Clonmel shortly after the death of Mr Rossiter. It also heard that the accused had asked if he could remove a chip from a CCTV camera for his own piece of mind.

The jury deliberated for more than four hours over two days before reaching a guilty verdict by 11 to 1.

They remained in court as sister of the deceased, Jenna Rossiter, read an impact statement describing how her brother’s life had been “taken overnight”.

“Death is never easy to write about,” said Ms Rossiter.

“He was taken at 30 years of age — we are left with so much emptiness, anger, and frustration. We lost a brother before which makes Shane’s death even harder to accept. We will always wonder what if? This has affected each of us differently — it is a life sentence for us.

“It felt like Shane was on trial for his own murder. It was an attack on his own character. No amount of dragging Shane’s name through dirt will make a difference to his warmth, wit, and all the happy times.”